Cranberry Walnut Muffins

Remember how last time I wrote I promised I was going to get back on the horse and blog more? Well, wouldn’t you know it that the very next day I broke our paleocomfortfoods website. In other words, I made that fatal mistake of saying “yes” to an update and then the whole thing went down the toilet. Note to self: never say “yes” to computer updates unless you know what you’re doing, have awesome technical support on speed dial or you don’t plan on blogging any paleo recipes any time soon.

Note the wide-open mouth of a certain toddler about to get all up in those muffins.

I’ll just quickly say that I was looking to come up with some kind of muffin/dessert thingy that wouldn’t be super high in carbs that I could make for Thanksgiving. I don’t typically call Paleo baked goods “Paleo,” even though the ingredients are such. Why? Well, I guess my fear is that people seeking out better health and wellness will see something like a muffin dubbed “Paleo” and will assume that it means “if I eat a lot of this I’ll be healthy.” Despite the low sugar in this, I definitely view this as a treat.

Anyhow, I’ve been a sucker for fresh cranberries in baked goods for a really long time. Of course, there are usually several cups of sugar in such baked goods, so I set out to see if I could make something that wasn’t so crazy sweet. So this is what I came up with. I tinkered with the recipe a bit, and if you wanted to make things sweeter you could totally use some sweetener of your choice instead of the banana (like coconut sugar, maple syrup, etc.). It really depends on your palate. The nutritional info below comes from me entering the ingredients into ReciPal. Have no idea of the accuracy, but it gives you an idea as to the breakdown. Oh, and I forgot to add in the baking powder, ginger and salt into ReciPal. Oops. Sorry.

As time is of the essence here (Paleo baby girl is determined to keep my sleep disjointed for the rest of my life I’m pretty sure), I’m going to wrap it up and get to the recipe – since it will probably take me the next hour to write it up.

If you’re needing to appease some super sweet tooths (teeths?) out there, you could always top these with your favorite frosting of sorts. Since I’m kind of sticking to lower carb stuff these days, I’d probably just slather these with Kerrygold butter. It’s like frosting, only better, right?

UPDATE: Scott and I did some testing of this recipe today to make sure I did not mess up (always possible). We first made sure that the quantities were as we stated. The original recipe stated 1/2 cup coconut flour. It SHOULD be 1/3 (corrected in the recipe). Additionally, it’s important to note that the brand of coconut flour we had on hand was Coconut Secret, and our almond flour was Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour. This can make a difference in baking, and Elana Amsterdam actually states here that this brand (Coconut Secret) does not work in her recipes. I don’t have the other brands on hand so I can’t tell you what the difference would be. I also tried making a batch with some coconut sugar (as opposed to the banana) for sweetness. Totally sweeter, as you might imagine. You could use 1/4 cup coconut sugar in place of the banana (or up to 1/2 cup) and you’ll have a noticeably sweeter muffin. I also tinkered with what would happen if we added in some coconut milk to the batter. I think the muffins turn out with an even better, fluffier texture, so I added 1/2 cup to the final recipe. Not that the original were bad, they just become better with that addition of coconut milk (or whatever full fat milk you might add).

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper or silicone liners, or liberally grease the wells with butter or coconut oil.

Separate the egg yolks and whites.

Using a whisk or handheld mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter with the banana (if you are using something other than a banana for sweetness, use that here instead of the banana). Add the egg yolks, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla extract and coconut milk to this mixture and combine well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt and ginger. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix well.

Using a spatula, fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, combining well. Before adding in the remaining egg whites, mix in the cranberries and walnuts. Then, gently fold in the remaining egg whites, stirring until no streaks remain.

Fill each of the muffin cups about 3/4 full with the batter.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until slightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.

by Julie Mayfield

Recipe Notes

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Paleo Comfort Foods is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. You do not pay anything extra (or less). It’s merely a way for us to help keep this blog alive and running. Paleo Comfort Foods Privacy Policy